The Garden
Books, articles, papers, courses, videos, podcasts, and reports I have read, watched or listened to, with a note on each saying why I kept it.
6 items Books
Book
William Zinsser
I spent 3 years editing other writers’ drafts at Kinsta, and this is the book I’d hand any of them on day one. Zinsser shows you how to find the words a sentence doesn’t need and cut them. For instance, there’s the word that does nothing and the adverb that repeats its verb.
Book
Salman Rushdie
Reading India’s history as magical realism felt surreal. Rushdie weaves Saleem’s life through it, from the night of independence to the Emergency and a little after, and you can tell how much research went into it. All of the midnight’s children stayed with me. My favorite chapters are the ones where they’re still kids, growing up.
Book
Cal Newport
My best writing happens in the hours without interruptions, and this book is Newport’s case for protecting them. He calls it deep work, and it’s getting rarer, so it’s worth more. Some of his rules ask a lot, like quitting social media, and he means every word.
Also Cal Newport’s book page (opens elsewhere) Open Library (opens elsewhere)
Book
Gabriel García Márquez, translated by Gregory Rabassa
I stayed with the Buendías for so long that I started to feel like one of them, and that’s how well it’s written. García Márquez tells the history of Latin America through that one family (keep a family tree handy), and the magical realism makes it amazing. It gets a bit depressing. There are funny moments along the way too.
Book
Dr. B.R. Ambedkar
Ambedkar wrote this as a speech in 1936, and his hosts canceled it after reading it. Ninety years later, it still reads like it was written for today. Caste, he writes, divides workers as well as work, and it lasts while the scriptures behind it keep their authority. I admire how clearly he makes that case.
Also Columbia’s annotated text (opens elsewhere) Verso edition (opens elsewhere)
Book
Dr. Anna Lembke
Lembke describes the brain as a balance, and every easy hit of pleasure tips it toward pain afterward, so you keep reaching for more. That picture changed how I look at my phone. Some of her patients’ stories are hard to read, and they show what the science means for a person’s life.